I have little more than sorrow and outrage to add to the mounting international outcry over the unconscionable Israeli raid on the Gaza aid flotilla. I can’t help but notice that, since I woke up an hour and half ago, the Israeli comments on that international response summary linked above have been moved to the bottom of the page or scrubbed all together— not surprising, when the comments are as asinine and offensive to basic human reason as this gem from Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon:

I want to report this morning that the armada of hate and violence in support of the Hamas terror organization was a premeditated and outrageous provocation. The organizers are well-known for their ties to Global Jihad, Al-Qaeda and Hamas.

That it? I heard they were also supplying fuel rods to the Kims, genetically-engineered super-poppies to the Taliban and submachine guns to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Meanwhile, in the real world, a court case revealed earlier this month the top secret specifics of what the Gaza blockade consists of. I like this quote from the Sari Bashi, who’s with Israeli human rights group that sued for the information:

I certainly don’t understand why cinnamon is permitted, but coriander is forbidden. Is there something more dangerous about coriander? Is coriander more critical to Gaza’s economy than cinnamon? This is a policy that appears to make no sense.

“Appears to” are the key words here. The seemingly ridiculous line between what’s allowed (canned meat, mineral water, tahini, tea and coffee) and what’s not (canned fruit, fruit juice, jam, chocolate) seems to me purposefully designed to be frustrating in it’s unpredictability and capriciousness. The fact that the details of the blockade are an all-mighty state secret plays right into this— keeping people in a permanently paranoid, demoralized and resigned condition. It’d be psychological warfare if it wasn’t, you know, also leading to natal anemia and the collapse of their economy.

Anyway. This article on Daily Kos is the best summary I’ve seen so far of both what’s happening and what’s happened. There are snap protests all over the country today, so if you live in a major city, check the list to see if anything’s happening near you. It’ll be interesting to see how news of this evolves over the next few days— I was pretty appalled with how quickly the US media moved on from Israel’s rejection of the provisional UN plan calling for a nuclear-weapon-free Middle East. When any significant stockpile of nuclear weapons exists on the planet (including our own), how dare Netanyahu refer to Israel as “the only country anywhere on Earth threatened with annihilation.”

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